In-Action

"This pioneering book on performance art in Vienna in the 1960s, the first English-language study of Viennese Actionism, offers a vital corrective to the standard narrative of the movement. Noting that the violent, masochistic stunts for which the so-called Actionists gained notoriety were in fact few, author Caroline Lillian Schopp reconsiders their work through the lens of "in-action"-gestures of passivity, vulnerability, and dependence reflecting the sense of impotence emerging from Austria's marginalized status in postwar society and artistic culture. Many of their performances were in fact failures: something would go wrong, performers would give up and leave, scenery would fall apart. When performance fails to take the form of action, what does that mean for art history? This book decenters the traditional focus on the male protagonists of Actionism-Gèunter Brus, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler-through attention to women such as Anna Brus and Hanel Koeck, who were involved in the action but only ambivalently took part. Schopp also considers the Actionists' ongoing interest in scrutinizing intimate relationships, including friendships, marriages, partnerships, and parenting, as well as their engagement with traditional artistic forms such as poetry, painting, and tapestry. In so doing, emerges a fresh and nuanced account with significant implications for the larger history of performance art"--